Batchhow

Cross-platform Batch Reports

Waldo Library

Western Michigan University

Objectives

show an implementation of automated, cross-platform, hands-off report generation in the Voyager environment

provide you with the information to do this at your site

Bonus!!!!!

Source code for

BLOB access and

a table+column schema listing

included in the handout.

Brief Bio

Brief Bio

Working at WMU for 16 years now

Brief Bio

Working at WMU for 16 years now Initially spent many years on the VAX

Brief Bio

Working at WMU for 16 years now Initially spent many years on the VAX Struggled for several years with the IBM

mainframe and NOTIS

Brief Bio


mainframe and NOTIS Supporting Voyager for close to 3 years

Brief Bio


mainframe and NOTIS Supporting Voyager for close to 3 years Picked up some Oracle, (PL/)SQL, Perl,

and Unix along the way

Why We Did This

Why We Did This

initially no access to Access with ODBC stuff; had no clue

Why We Did This

initially no access to Access with ODBC stuff; had no clue

explored our Voyager Unix box, located SQL*PLUS

Why We Did This

So we created reports - run them on the Voyager box, transfer to PC format and print in Word, etc...

Why We Did This

So we created reports - library liked them - I got tired of:

Why We Did This

So we created reports - library liked them - I got tired of: running reports ftping them formatting them printing them physically delivering them

Cross-Platform Batch Reports

Overview of Process(Handout page 4)

Unix

cron Cross-Platform Batch Reports

Overview of Process

Unix


Overview of Process

Unix

Time/dateparameters in one crontabfile


Overview of Process

Unix


script


Overview of Process

Unix


script

SQL,PL/SQL,

Perl


Overview of Process

Unix


script

SQL,PL/SQL,

Perl

report Onecron process

running


Overview of Process

Unix


script

SQL,PL/SQL,

Perl


running

Batch PC


Overview of Process

Unix


script

SQL,PL/SQL,

Perl


running

Batch PC

WinBatch


Overview of Process

Unix


script

SQL,PL/SQL,

Perl


running

Batch PC

WinBatch

script or .exe


Overview of Process

Unix


script

SQL,PL/SQL,

Perl


running

Batch PC

WinBatch

script or .exe

use ftp toget the report

pull itinto Word

formatthe report


Overview of Process

Unix


script

SQL,PL/SQL,

Perl


running

Batch PC

WinBatch

script or .exe


pull itinto Word

formatthe report

time/date parameters stored in each script


Overview of Process

Unix


script

SQL,PL/SQL,

Perl


running

Batch PC

WinBatch

script or .exe


pull itinto Word

formatthe report


copy report todestination

on LAN


Overview of Process

Unix


script

SQL,PL/SQL,

Perl


running

Batch PC

WinBatch

script or .exe


pull itinto Word

formatthe report



on LAN

print reportto location


Overview of Process

Unix


script

SQL,PL/SQL,

Perl


running

Batch PC

WinBatch

script or .exe


pull itinto Word

formatthe report



on LAN


Library AdministrationLibrary SystemsMedia ResourcesMono AcquisitionsSerials

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl SQL

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl SQL invoked from within SQL*PLUS

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl SQL invoked from within SQL*PLUS sufficient for most reports

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl SQL invoked from within SQL*PLUS sufficient for most reports easy control of page & line size, page

formatting


formatting takes control, does most of the work for

you


formatting takes control, does most of the work for

you output to screen or file

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl SQL sample of code… (Handout page 5)

output snippet below

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl identify what the report generates

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl include Word format settings

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl

define output columns


these two columns are for sorting only


The call to FISCYRSETUP creates a temporary table, for the durationof this report, that contains the name and start date for the current andprevious year. This is used in a number of reports to automaticallyreference fiscal year data.


Set up title and some report parameters.Want output in a file.


Run the query tocreate the report.Clean up when done.

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl PL/SQL

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl PL/SQL invoked from within SQL*PLUS, or

embedded in / combined with SQL


embedded in / combined with SQL provides SQL capabilities with

programming language control added


embedded in / combined with SQL provides SQL capabilities with

programming language control added functionality sort of in-between SQL and

Perl

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl PL/SQL output to screen or to screen

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl PL/SQL output to screen or to screen Oracle allows output to file, but the

Voyager installation does not enable this



size limited to 1 million bytes output



size limited to 1 million bytes output screen output can be captured to file

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl PL/SQL sample of code… (Handout pages 6 & 7)


When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perlstart off with some comments…

output limitation…


important reminder


note the order by


variables must be declared


fields from the table

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl you have control of looping through results


What is a BLOB?

It stands for Binary Large Object. More simply put, it is a collection of bytes that can contain both printable and unprintable characters. This is how MARC data is stored under Voyager.

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or PerlThe BLOB can be stored in one or more sections:

BibID: 57 Seqnum: 1 Recseg: BLOB Part A

BibID: 57 Seqnum: 2 Recseg: BLOB Part B

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or PerlThe BLOB can be stored in one or more sections:

BibID: 57 Seqnum: 1 Recseg: BLOB Part A

BibID: 57 Seqnum: 2 Recseg: BLOB Part B

The BLOB is put together in

reverse order, because we can

depend on Seqnum #1 being

the last one that way.


get data from the header,then get each tag’s data as we loopthrough the directory structure


do some formatting...


print formatted tag data…

finish looping and end the program


Without the closing “/”, your PL/SQL codewill NOT run!

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl Perl

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl Perl invoked from the operating system (can be called from within SQL(*PLUS)

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl Perl invoked from the operating system (can be called from within SQL(*PLUS) you have control over everything, which

means:


means: relatively unlimited flexibility that you have to do ALL the work


means: relatively unlimited flexibility that you have to do ALL the work output to screen or file

When to Choose SQL, PL/SQL, or Perl Perl sample of code… (Handout pages 8 -10)



start off with some comments


You’ll need to have DBI and

DBD for Oracle set up on your Unix box.


set up some variables


need to be able to talk to the database


Get all the table names.

In my experience, I was unable to use the

reserved word “distinct” in the query.

Thus the extract code to dedupe the results.


need to know how many

columns per table to aid

in output formatting


set up and initiate output


get the report’s data


keep track of column names ending in “_id”


go through array, output columns

ending in “_id” first


go through array, output columns

ending in “_id” first

Remember counting columns per table?

Here we advance to the next page,

if the table doesn’t fit on the current page.


then repeat this process for columns

that do not end in “_id”


if not enough room for smallest

possible table, go to next page


clean up when done

The Batch PC

The Batch PC

Should be dedicated to this task

The Batch PC

Should be dedicated to this task configuration...

The Batch PC

Hardware

The Batch PC

Hardware older pc will be adequate

The Batch PC

Hardware older pc will be adequate we’re using a 133MHz Pentium

The Batch PC

Hardware older pc will be adequate we’re using a 133MHz Pentium 32 meg RAM

The Batch PC

Hardware older pc will be adequate we’re using a 133MHz Pentium 32 meg RAM 1.5 gig hard disk, which is way more

than necessary

The Batch PC

Software

The Batch PC

Software running Windows 95

The Batch PC

Software running Windows 95 WinBatch software (see www.windowware.com)

The Batch PC

Software running Windows 95 WinBatch software (see www.windowware.com) the scripts that you write...

The Batch PC

The Batch Software

The Batch PC

The Batch Software WinBatch installation will leave it

running in the background

The Batch PC

The Batch Software WinBatch installation will leave it

running in the background in Windows Explorer, double click on

your WinBatch script, identified as a .WBT file

The Batch PC

The Batch Software WinBatch installation will leave it running

in the background in Windows Explorer, double click on

your WinBatch script, identified as a .WBT file

it will either run right away, or appear on the task bar, awaiting its time

Quick

Process

Review

cronCross-Platform Batch Reports

Overview of Process

Unix


script

SQL,PL/SQL,

Perl


running

Batch PC

WinBatch

script or .exe


pull itinto Word

formatthe report



on LAN


Library AdministrationLibrary SystemsMedia ResourcesMono AcquisitionsSerials

The Batch PC

The Batch Software FINALLY, a script! (Handout pages 11 & 12)

The Batch PC

start off with comments,

including instructions on

when the script can be started safely

to avoid duplication of report printing

The Batch PC

set up paths and filenames on the Unix box

and the batch PC,

get the database password from a file

The Batch PC

determine if it’s time for the script to run

The Batch PC

Encapsulating the ftp process in a WinBatch

script file works well.

Use the DOS ftp program supplied with Windows.

The Batch PCwait a minute for ftp to complete

The Batch PCmake sure file exists, then launch Word with it

The Batch PCsend formatting keystrokes to Word

The Batch PCGet the printer pull-down menu,

select the desired printer,

and print.

Wait a minute for printing to

complete before closing Word.

The Batch PC

The rest of the code closes loops and makes the script wait

until the next run time occurs.

Example from another scriptillustrating how to trigger on

day of the week.

This script runs early in the morning,

six days a week.

The Batch PC

The Batch Software Some final hints

The Batch PC

The Batch Software Some final hints WinBatch appears to get application

Windows confused, despite referring to them by name in the scripts

The Batch PC

The Batch Software Some final hints WinBatch appears to get application

Windows confused, despite referring to them by name in the scripts

set up trigger and run times so that they do not overlap

The Batch PC

The Batch Software Some final hints long lines in your scripts: don’t break them up! WinBatch expects them to remain contiguous!

Thanks for listening

Questions?

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 616.387.3885

Better Call Number Sorting

Roll your own!

What Voyager gives us…

We can achieve better results…

this is now our input

correctly sorted


originally written in SAS back in our NOTIS days



ported to Perl for use with Voyager



ported to Perl for use with Voyager with NOTIS, could only sort on whole

call number field, with expected atrocious results



ported to Perl for use with Voyager with NOTIS, could only sort on whole call

number field, with expected atrocious results Voyager provides normalized call number,

which allows for better than 80% correct sorting


with intelligent parsing applied to the call number, we can achieve about 99% correct sorting

implemented it as a Perl module put use Sort::CallNumber; at the

beginning of your Perl code


one call returns the call number chunks: @cnparts = cnparse($callnum); then sort on the cnparts

Thanks for listening.

Contact me if you want to receivethe CallNumber Perl module.

Questions?

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 616.387.3885

Batchhow

Technology

Transcript of Batchhow